RT-AC 1900P at Best buy

[Farns]

Argh, I'm very much on the fence now. I am tempted to go buy this router today to replace my N66U, but knowing that BCM4908 routers are on the horizon gives me pause. Is there any indication of the price of those routers based on that chip? Will it come in at the $350+ range? Or in the $200-$300 range?

 

[L&LD]

Argh, I'm very much on the fence now. I am tempted to go buy this router today to replace my N66U, but knowing that BCM4908 routers are on the horizon gives me pause. Is there any indication of the price of those routers based on that chip? Will it come in at the $350+ range? Or in the $200-$300 range?

At the rate manufacturer's are going? I'd be surprised if it wasn't in the $600 plus range.

 

[RMerlin]

but knowing that BCM4908 routers are on the horizon gives me pause

My personal feeling is we won't see Asus routers based on this new CPU until next year (assuming they do develop one, of course), as I haven't seen a single sign of them in the GPL code yet, while the BRT-AC828/M2 started showing up about two months ago, and isn't scheduled for release until later this year.

No idea on pricing, but I don't see why it would be less expensive than the current flagship (the RT-AC88U).

 

[SoCalReviews]

... I haven't seen a single sign of them in the GPL code yet, while the BRT-AC828/M2 started showing up about two months ago, and isn't scheduled for release until later this year.

I'm not a developer so I have no idea how the process works but wouldn't a new Asus router based on this new quad core 64 bit chip use all new 64 bit code instead of older 32 bit code used for older 32 bit BCM chips?

 

[sfx2000]

I'm not a developer so I have no idea how the process works but wouldn't a new Asus router based on this new quad core 64 bit chip use all new 64 bit code instead of older 32 bit code used for older 32 bit BCM chips?

Non-trivial as there's quite a bit of 3rd object code that would have to be rebuilt if moving to ARMv8, including some of Broadcom's own stuff - probably the reason why another vendor moved over to Quad A7's in their newer mid-range chipset.

 

[RMerlin]

I'm not a developer so I have no idea how the process works but wouldn't a new Asus router based on this new quad core 64 bit chip use all new 64 bit code instead of older 32 bit code used for older 32 bit BCM chips?

Asus will most likely not rewrite a whole firmware just for that router. My guess is they will keep running code in 32-bit. They might adjust the existing code so it can be compiled in 64-bit (you don't need a whole new firmware for that), but I doubt they will bother, as I can't see any point in running 64-bit code on a device that has less than 4 GB of RAM anyway.

 

[RMerlin]

Non-trivial as there's quite a bit of 3rd object code that would have to be rebuilt if moving to ARMv8, including some of Broadcom's own stuff - probably the reason why another vendor moved over to Quad A7's in their newer mid-range chipset.

Switching from ARMv7 to ARMv8 should be mostly trivial, especially when compared with when Asus made their code work on both mipsel and arm, which was a far more important architecture change (as one is big-endian and the other is low-endian). It's just a matter of building with the appropriate toolchain, and use the appropriate SDK.

 

[dieter]

Asus confirmed last night that the RT-AC1900P uses the same firmware as the RT-AC68U.

Does this mean that I can install the 68U Merlin FW on my AC1900P?

 

[sfx2000]

Asus will most likely not rewrite a whole firmware just for that router. My guess is they will keep running code in 32-bit. They might adjust the existing code so it can be compiled in 64-bit (you don't need a whole new firmware for that), but I doubt they will bother, as I can't see any point in running 64-bit code on a device that has less than 4 GB of RAM anyway.

Concur - it's probably very similar to what the RT-AC68 series is from a performance perspective, but leveraging common parts from the 2016 model line up - and it fits nicely within that lineup - RT-AC1900, RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U, and the RT-AC5300 - parts commonality is a very good thing in a production line...

One would perhaps expect updated calibrations for the UNII-1/2 bands, which would be a nice bonus... should perhaps go dig about in the FCC database to see what's there.

 

[RMerlin]

Concur - it's probably very similar to what the RT-AC68 series is from a performance perspective, but leveraging common parts from the 2016 model line up - and it fits nicely within that lineup - RT-AC1900, RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U, and the RT-AC5300 - parts commonality is a very good thing in a production line...

One would perhaps expect updated calibrations for the UNII-1/2 bands, which would be a nice bonus... should perhaps go dig about in the FCC database to see what's there.

I think the BCM4908 is intended to be paired with the BCM4366, so I wouldn't expect any change on the wifi side of things. BCM hasn't announced any new wifi SoC yet.

 

[RMerlin]

Does this mean that I can install the 68U Merlin FW on my AC1900P?

Yes, as long it's one of the 380.xx series. 378.xx didn't support the BCM4709C0.

 

[overClocked!]

First time I seen a hardware V1. Where does it say it has a 1.4 GHz processor? What processor does the C1 have?

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

The two we picked up a few weeks ago had V3 indicated on the box.

Out of the box came with F/W Ver 3.0.0.4.380_1842 and I went ahead and upgraded one of them to 3.0.0.4.380_3264. Restored previous AC-RT68u settings from a backup and the thing works like a champ.

I haven't even opened the second one yet as I want to see how things shake out with this new model. After a bad experience with the RT-AC68P exclusive Best Buy model, I'm being cautious.

 

[Lola]

Finally. overClocked!, can you please post a printout of the hardware in this RT-AC1900P. I'm really interested in this model from BB. There has been so much talk about what's actually being used as a CPU and which radios are in it I've started to believe the "Hype" dragons are at work.
If you have the time would also really like to hear of your bad experience with the RT-AC68P.

 

[dieter]

Yes, as long it's one of the 380.xx series. 378.xx didn't support the BCM4709C0.

I have 3.0.0.4.380.3264. When I try to upload RT-AC68U_380.59_0.trx, I get Firmware Upgrade Unsuccessful. Do I need to put this Merlin FW on a USB drive? I have not found the proper upgrade instructions...
Dieter

 

[L&LD]

I have 3.0.0.4.380.3264. When I try to upload RT-AC68U_380.59_0.trx, I get Firmware Upgrade Unsuccessful. Do I need to put this Merlin FW on a USB drive? I have not found the proper upgrade instructions...
Dieter

Use search, 380.3264 limits which firmware you can install (nothing earlier, at least not via the gui).

You will need to do it with the Asus firmware restoration tool instead.

 

[dieter]

Do you mean the Rescue.exe software?

 

[L&LD]

Do you mean the Rescue.exe software?

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1000814/

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AC3200/Rescue_2000.zip

 

[DeathAngel74]

New to the forums and a new owner of an ASUS RT-AC1900-P from Best Buy (Best Buy Exclusive). First, I would like to thank RMerlin for all of his hard work on ASUSWRT-Merlin. I luckily purchased the V3 revision and installed ASUSWRT-Merlin 380.60 Beta 2 for the ASUS RT-AC68U without issues. It's been working without a hitch since last night!
Thanks again!

Spoiler

 

[mogulman]

I got a v3 also. Anyone know what different CPU and hardware parts are used in this vs the AC68?

 

[RMerlin]

I got a v3 also. Anyone know what different CPU and hardware parts are used in this vs the AC68?

Already answered in that thread. New CPU, and new power amplifiers for the wifi.